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You know you're a millennial when... the 7 things that sum up our generation

Radhika Sanghani

Katy Perry's false lashes are on display at the V&A museum in London. Photo: AFP

Katy Perry’s false eyelashes and a pair of Primark jeans have made it into the V&A museum in London. The 160-year-old museum, which once had a policy of not collecting items less than 50 years old, is curating them for its latest 'rapid response' exhibition on mundane items that have come to symbolise controversies.

The dark Primark jeans were made in the Dhaka factory that collapsed last year, while Perry’s Cool Kitty eyelashes are made using human eyelash hair, for example. But, bar their controversies, low-cost fashion and 'falsies' are also pretty representative of western society to any young millennial.

Along with TOWIE, Twitter and ‘slebs, they do, sadly, sum up our society to the extent that they’ll probably end up on our future schoolchildren’s’ textbooks under Millennial Life. Here are the top seven.

Historians of the future, take note, and try not to judge us too badly:

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1) Kimye

What sums up our society more than the couple who are famous for shameless self-promotion, over-spending and naming their daughter after a compass direction?

Kim Kardashian went from being a low level ‘sleb to becoming so famous that even my elderly neighbours know who she is. Her husband Kanye thinks he is God.

2) Twitter followers

Success is now defined by the amount of Twitter followers you have. We know that Justin Bieber, One Direction and Lady Gaga are the most popular celebrities out there simply because of the amount of followers they have - most of whom seem to be love-struck teens.

Amongst us mortals, followers are just as important. I recently over heard a girl on the bus saying: “My goal is to get 10k followers by Christmas. Then I’ll get any job I want.”

3) The Onesie

For the past few years, every fancy dress party has inevitably included a onesie. Tigers, dinosaurs and Teletubbies have taken over our Facebook newsfeeds as everyone – as in EVERYONE - donned the trend that made us look like over-grown babies and made using the loo a very serious process.

4) Hipsters

The hipster has taken over. Glasses with no prescriptions, plenty of facial hair and vintage clothes are all hipster wear.

But it's not just the clothes - it's also the lifestyle. Pop-up shops are now everywhere, as is quinoa - the gluten-free grain that no one can pronounce.

5) Tinder

In 2014, the main way to get a date is by using an app. Tinder is the current top choice, and its terminology is even creeping into our dialect: ‘I’d so swipe to the right for him,’ now means you fancy someone, while swiping to the left means the poor person never had a chance.

6) Pubic hair

It’s not quite as controversial as Primark’s factory conditions, but pubes have become a 2014 talking point. They’ve been given their own film, Cameron Diaz has been preaching against Brazilian waxes, and American Apparel even gave their mannequins hairy merkins. Perhaps the V&A could add those to their collection.

7) The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen is the female heroine every female teen (and adult) wants to be. Her ‘mockingjay’ signal, which the characters use as a symbol for their revolution, has even caught on to the real world as protestors in Thailand recently used the gesture during a demonstration.

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